Miasma
by Chrysne
Summary: (AU) Envious of Mojo Jojo for creating the Rowdyruff Boys, HIM also wanted kids of his own. However, unlike Mojo and his vile boys, he wanted girls and HIM knew just where to get them. The Powerpuffs are slowly to be turned into the Powerpunks and they have no idea, not when they are too busy being the assigned watchers of the newly neutral Rowdyruffs. (Reds/Greens/Blues)
1. Prologue

_"You should know by now that we can never be controlled. We refuse to relive. I'd rather fight you for eternity than let me and my brothers be dragged back down to drown in rancor once more."_

How dare they…

_How dare they..._

**How dare they?!**

How dare those impudent brats...

Oh, how HIM missed the time when they were boys: young, evil and stupid. Sweetly pliable...

No.

Even before, those three were unmanipulable (just ask Mojo). Unable to follow orders coming from those other than themselves, the very definition of rowdy brats.

Now that they've grown, they became smart enough to choose Mojo Jojo over him, the greater of the two evils. They chose to control rather than be controlled.

The Rowdyruff Boys.

They who had escaped his grasp and subsequently flew off towards the direction of none other than Townsville...

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**_M ∙ I ∙ A ∙ S ∙ M ∙ A_**

* * *

_"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new."_

_\- Socrates_

* * *

A large green sign bearing the welcoming words _'The City of Townsville'_ stood nearby the entrance road to Townsville, welcoming all who enters the rather well-known city.

Two hands clad with black leather wristbands suddenly grabbed the sign's gleaming metal pole, casually uprooted the sign from the cemented ground, flew off and swiftly swung it through the severely damaged torso of a gigantic metal robot running rampant in a destructive rage all over the city streets. The giant attack robot promptly froze, roughly sliced in half. With two final powered kicks from green converse-clad feet, the two massive halves of the robot fell down to the road in two loud crashes, causing a small earthquake with the force of its impact.

The long metal pole, which was all that's left of the large green sign, was hauled over one shoulder and the girl singlehandedly responsible for the robot's downfall and half the destruction caused to the city flew down to the rubble-covered ground a few meters away from the robot's smoking ruins. The gorgeous girl ran one wristband-clad hand through her shoulder-length raven black hair. Lime green eyes closed in annoyance. "Last day of summer and this shit happens. Can't even get a damn break…"

"You know, Buttercup, you could have saved yourself all the trouble by just pressing the small self-destruct button at the back of the robot." A cool feminine voice spoke from behind her.

"There's a self-destruct button!?" Buttercup spun around to find her red-haired sister slowly walking over to where she stood. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me that earlier?!"

"Language, Buttercup." Blossom sighed, her long high ponytail slightly waving in the light breeze. Rose pink eyes darted around the ruined streets, surveying the definite wince-inducing damage to their surroundings. "You really should learn some restraint…" She murmured with a small frown on her beautiful face.

"Hey, you know fighting's my stress relief." Being a super-powered heroine at sixteen was hard enough, but having to live a normal life at the same time after dealing with a Chemical X-induced hell puberty… Buttercup shrugged, scoffing at the thought. One seriously painful hell of a puberty transformation was the reason why all three girls now looked like any average normal person, save for their 'eldest' sister's obviously unnatural-colored eyes. At least they all got a few new powers and tricks out of it. "You should try it, it actually works."

"Only because of our lives." Blossom rolled her eyes. "Where's Bubbles?"

"Busy making sure no one got hurt." The voice of their remaining sibling came from above as Bubbles flew down to stand right next to her two sisters, her light blonde hair changed from her childhood signature hairstyle into a more fitting low pigtails. Sky blue eyes sent a glare at the black-haired puff, "Would it kill you to tone it down just a little?"

"Well, sorry…" Buttercup rolled her lime green eyes, sounding entirely unapologetic.

"Seriously, Buttercup!" Bubbles frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "I lost count of how many people and animals I had to fly away to safety!"

"Then next time, you fight the giant robot and I'll stay home and watch the soccer game!" Buttercup scoffed, pointedly ignoring her blonde sister's pouting face.

Standing in between the two of them, Blossom merely sighed.

"Come on girls, let's go get Mojo and be done with this." With that, the redhead walked over to where the upper half of the gigantic robot had crashed a short distance away, Bubbles and Buttercup following close behind her. The head of the giant robot was actually a large dome made out of thick opaque glass where the controls for the robot was located. The girls could clearly hear one of Mojo Jojo's infamous _'Curses!'_-filled repetitive rants, even without their super hearing, and all three sisters rolled their eyes.

"Just come out already, Mojo!" Blossom half-heartedly shouted to the dome. "It's over and you know it."

"That is what you think, Powerpuff Girls! It is not over, as in finished, reached a resolution, came to a conclusion, brought to an end!" Mojo Jojo's response was slightly muffled from where he shouted inside the dome. The monkey-like villain was still futilely messing with the controls, trying to get his robot (or at least the upper half of it) to work. "I, Mojo Jojo, still have more tricks up my metaphorical sleeve, that is to say that I, Mojo Jojo-"

"Should put a sock in it!" Buttercup growled, stomping closer to the glass dome. "I'm gonna beat you up big time for making me miss my game, ya stupid monkey!"

"Ha! I, Mojo Jojo, would like to see you try, green Powerpuff!" Mojo cried from within the dome. "I, Mojo Jojo, have intelligently and ingeniously planned ahead in advance and made sure to thoroughly and evenly coat this impenetrable protective glass dome, that is the only thing separating you three girls from me, Mojo Jojo, with Antidote X, making you, Powerpuff Girls, incapable of touching the surface of the glass dome and consequently completely and utterly impossible to be able to-"

Buttercup just smirked, raised the metal pole she was still carrying and promptly smashed a large hole onto the glass dome with the sharp pointy end, exposing the wide-eyed villain from within. The green puff tossed away the metal pole as Mojo Jojo stared with wide trembling eyes at the sight of a darkly smirking Buttercup, who was cracking her knuckles loudly.

Mojo Jojo audibly gulped.

"Meep…"

Bubbles lightly hummed as she and Blossom stood back and watched their black-haired sister violently beat up the monkey-like villain to within an inch of his life. "Buttercup _really_ wanted to watch that soccer game today huh…" The blonde murmured while Blossom suppressed a small sigh, the sounds of bone-breaking punches and Mojo's loud cries clearly heard from the background.

"Well, today is her last day of freedom, as she puts it." The red-haired puff rolled her eyes. "We start our third year in high school tomorrow, remember?"

Bubbles brightened. "Oh, right! Time flies fast, doesn't it…"

Blossom's lips quirked up a little at her blonde sister's blatant excitement before turning around to face her other sister.

"Alright, that's enough, Buttercup." The redhead spoke authoritatively, having decided that poor Mojo had enough of a beating from her irate black-haired sister. "Throw him to jail and let's go home."

"Tch." Buttercup gave the severely beaten up Mojo Jojo one last glare before spinning and tossing him high into the air with her super strength, sending him soaring through the sky and heading straight towards Townsville jail.

* * *

Mojo Jojo's face resembled a dying fish and he stood shocked and still as a statue, even as the bars to his jail cell was opened by one of the guards. Another guard was checking and nodding at the paper for release, official and signed by the Mayor of Townsville and (more importantly) his assistant themselves.

The monkey-like villain's wide black eyes were solely focused on the three familiar figures standing in front of him.

* * *

HIM, a powerful demon-like being with red skin and claws for hands, the one said to be _'so sinister, so evil, so scary, so horribly vile that his real name can never be said, lest fear be struck into the very hearts of men.'_ was admittedly jealous.

Worse, he was admittedly jealous of Mojo Jojo, of all beings to be jealous of.

From a small viewing portal in his home, a rather palatial manor situated most probably somewhere within the deepest depths of hell or wherever, HIM idly watched the reason of his rather irksome jealousy with a small frown on his face.

He silently observed as the Rowdyruff Boys continue to ignore yet another long repetitive rant of anger and disbelief coming from Mojo Jojo, their creator and father (as much as everyone knew the three super-powered boys hated that little fact). But not before giving the monkey a thorough beating for the trouble he caused them, HIM heavily suspected, judging from the three super-powered teens' irritated faces.

In the Mayor's office, pointedly ignored by everyone else inside the room, Mojo Jojo was quickly pacing back and forth while continuously shouting off his over-complicated tirade. Brick was standing in front of the Mayor while the latter was seated behind his desk with his assistant Miss Bellum standing to his side, all three of them currently engaged in a serious discussion about the situation, along with Mojo and the terms of the boys' custody over him (when it really should be the reverse...). Annoyance and plain irritation clearly covered the Rowdyruff leader's usually cool face and Mojo's irritating voice, showing no signs at all of stopping anytime soon, wasn't helping one bit. Across from them, Butch was haphazardly lounging on a couch with his feet carelessly propped up on the glass coffee table in front of him, waiting impatiently, fingers drumming on one knee. Boomer was casually sitting down beside his black-haired brother on the other end of the black leather couch, humming lightly to himself as he silently worked on one of his compositions.

HIM's frown deepened when Mojo finally noticed the boys' (and the Mayor and Miss Bellum's) nonexistent listening and started ranting anew, this time about how the trio were 'not acting like the obedient and respectful and evil sons that he, Mojo Jojo, had created and intended the three of them to be…'. All three boys merely rolled their eyes at that as Miss Bellum gave them the clear to leave. The Mayor sat behind his desk, smiling stupidly at them by his assistant's side, looking happy and excited at the prospects recent developments will bring.

HIM promptly vanished the small viewing portal with a lazy wave of his red claw, slumping down onto his couch with a sigh and a small pout.

He **so** wanted kids of his own.

Of course, he didn't just come up to this particular revelation just like that. HIM found himself involuntarily pricked with a tiny little pang of jealousy whenever he witnessed numerous times the severely dysfunctional yet irrefutably familial relationship between Mojo Jojo and the Rowdyruff Boys, much to the latter's annoyance and perpetual denial. And eventually, all these tiny little pangs of jealousy gathering within him built up into an overwhelming bitter envy.

However, unlike Mojo and his vile disrespecting overgrown brats that can never be controlled, not even by HIM himself (much to his reluctant admission), he much preferred girls.

Daughters.

_Evil_ daughters.

HIM wanted his own darling little sweethearts, who are the very epitome of elegance and evil. And most importantly, respect.

The red demon-like being lost count of how many times he would find himself just imagining three teenage girls dutifully reporting to him on how they successfully terrorized Townsville yet again with an oh-so sweet smile on their beautiful faces. His brief feelings of pride would then quickly disappear with a sigh as he remembered that it was all only wishful thinking.

HIM laid down on his couch, allowing himself to be overcome for a quick moment with the idle thoughts of three beautiful, dark and dangerous young women, whose wannabe suitors he would make sure to thoroughly beat off with a large stick, perhaps a flaming metal one with sharp spikes all over it. After all, no one's evil enough for daddy's precious villainesses.

His half-lidded eyes, in the midst of lazily looking all around his living room, caught sight of the latest newspaper, slightly crumpled after earlier perusal. There, pictured in the front page, were the reason Mojo Jojo had been in jail (yet again), and had to be picked up there before going to the Mayor's office by his three extremely annoyed sons (talk about a role reversal...).

Elegant and evil, HIM suddenly thought, a dark smile slowly creeping upon his lips as he sat up.

Unlike Mojo Jojo's three sons, HIM wanted daughters. However, he did not want to bother himself with going through all that trouble of creating his own evil brats, which was a convoluted process as extremely difficult as it is delicate. Just one little wrong move and… well, there was a reason why he was still currently daughterless. That and he found it to be much more enjoyable and rewarding by becoming the father of the other three of the six super-powered beings in current existence. The female half, that is. He'd long given up on the custody battle of the male half. Mojo can have his three disrespectful failures for sons for all HIM cares. Not only would he get his three daughters, but he would also rid himself of his three main nemeses in the process. Two birds with one stone.

So yes, HIM would rather gain his three daughters of evil _the fun way_. And he knew exactly just where to get them.

The red demon-like being immediately began his planning, already designing in his mind the three soon-to-be additional bedrooms to his home.

He would steal the Powerpuff Girls right from Professor Utonium's hands before the stupid excuse for a scientist could even notice it. Soon, very soon, only he and Mojo Jojo would have the title of being father to a super-powered sibling trio…

* * *

_"Nothing makes us more vulnerable than loneliness, except greed."_

_\- Thomas Harris_

* * *

**Miasma: ****a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence; an atmosphere that obscures.**

* * *

**_Author End Notes_**

**_I really hope to see some improvement in my writing. I write this as I go, meaning that I don't really know where I'm going with this. _**

**_Also, expect irregular updates due to work and my busy schedule, so I apologize in advance._**


	2. I

Miss Sara Bellum, the very competent and dutiful assistant and of the Mayor of Townsville, could only sigh mentally and shake her head as the Mayor happily and ignorantly signed off the various paperwork allowing the building of several new malls, amusement parks, hotels and casinos in Townsville as part of his plan for improving the city (and his image and reputation).

A series of deafening explosions suddenly sounded somewhere in the city and the Mayor's office subsequently shook as if experiencing an earthquake.

Both the Mayor and Miss Bellum turned towards the office's large glass windows to find yet another machine of mass destruction (MoMD) built by none other than Mojo Jojo to try and take over Townsville (again).

"Mojo Jojo again!?" The Mayor yelped and hurriedly started phoning the Powerpuff Girls.

Miss Bellum sighed in dismay and exasperation, "Oh dear, not again. It hasn't even been a week…"

From two separate places within Townsville, six others shared similar sentiments in varying degrees, ranging from annoyance and exasperation to irritation and contemplations of patricide.

Miss Bellum took out her phone and quickly started typing. "We might as well use this as an opportunity…"

* * *

**_M ∙ I ∙ A ∙ S ∙ M ∙ A_**

* * *

_"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."_

_\- John F. Kennedy_

* * *

Bubbles lightly rocked back and forth on her feet while Blossom stood with her arms crossed, idly tapping her fingers against her upper right arm, the smoking carcass of Mojo Jojo's newest MoMD, resembling a UFO, laid a few feet in front of them. They were watching their black-haired sister violently beat up the monkey-like villain to within an inch of his life (again) for quite a while now.

"Buttercup's really taking her time…" Blossom stated observantly after a while of sounds of bone breaking punches and Mojo's loud cries clearly heard from the background.

"Stress?" Bubbles offered. Blossom turned her head towards her.

"Let me guess," The red-haired puff rolled her eyes. "She didn't study for that aptitude test today in mathematics, which is coincidentally her class right now."

The blonde just sent her 'eldest' sister a chirpy smile.

Said 'eldest' sister stared pointedly at her. "Come to think of it, that's also your class…"

Bubbles kept smiling.

The redhead felt a headache forming and sighed, "You also didn't study…"

"Not on purpose!" Bubbles lightly blushed and had the decency to look contrite. "It's just that I spent all night catching up on school gossip and I kinda, um, well, forgot…?"

"I'm letting you two off just this once since it's the first day of school." Blossom shook her head at her blonde sister's sheepish face before turning around to face her other sister. "Quit stalling for time, Buttercup, and throw him to jail already. World history just finished."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Buttercup blithely and blatantly denied while picking up the severely beaten Mojo Jojo and sent him soaring straight towards Townsville jail (again).

But a few meters into the sky, a single hand suddenly shot out and grabbed hold of the monkey-like villain by the end of his long purple cape. Mojo made a small choking noise as he was snatched out of the air and flung down towards the ground by a blond guy who looked to be around the same age as the three Powerpuff Girls who were standing a short distance away.

Rose pink, lime green and _especially_ sky blue eyes flashed with instant recognition. All three pairs of wide eyes were fixated on the familiar blond in front of them, who stood relaxed with one hand tucked inside the left pocket of his blue jeans and the other currently holding Mojo up by his purple cape.

A flabbergasted Mojo was coughing loudly and indignantly spluttering, "W-What is the meaning of this, this as in referring to the fact about how you so crudely, and not delicately as you should have but did not for reasons that I have yet to determine, take a sudden grip of my evidently and prominently bruised and beaten flying form from high in the air and-"

"We've talked about this, remember?" The blond interrupted, a blithe smile on his handsome face. "Do we have to send you off to speech therapy again…?"

Mojo Jojo immediately quieted, his eyes flashing in absolute horror at the aforementioned threat.

Hearing her counterpart's soft and mature voice after not seeing him and his brothers since their sudden disappearance six years ago, Bubbles was finally convinced that this was real and not just a dream. Her counterpart was really standing in front of her, just meters away, and looking rather cute and attractive too.

"Boomer…" A soft whisper unconsciously escaped Bubbles' lips at that moment, one that any normal person would definitely have not heard. Too bad they were all far from being normal.

Boomer looked up and Bubbles froze when his closed eyes opened to reveal half-lidded twin pools of mesmerizing deep ocean blue for just a split second before closing once more. Bubbles felt a tiny twinge of disappointment at that.

The smile on Boomer's face wavered for a split second before slowly disappearing into a calm indifference. The girls' bodies all tensed.

"Hello, Bubbles." The Boomer blankly greeted.

Bubbles blinked in surprise.

She noticed her red-haired sister's meaningful glance directed towards her out of the corner of her eyes and the blonde puff immediately straightened herself. Boomer was her counterpart to deal with after all. She inwardly took a deep breath, "W-What are you doing here…?"

Beside her, Bubbles noticed Buttercup silently settle into a defensive stance.

Boomer's handsome face was serenely apathetic. "Don't worry, I'm only here to fetch Mojo. I'm not interested in a fight, haven't been for six years, so you can tell your sisters to relax."

Bubbles could tell that her counterpart was speaking the truth, and she immediately relaxed. Seeing that, Buttercup also eased her stance, albeit hesitantly, and still kept a close guarded eye on Boomer. However, it was a different case with Blossom. If any, what her 'youngest' sister's counterpart said only made the pink puff even more suspicious.

"What for?" Blossom spoke with an authoritative tone, crossing her arms over her chest. "Mojo was already headed straight to jail. Where are you taking him?"

"Right back here." Boomer casually replied with a light shrug. "Why? Wait and you'll see."

Buttercup narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Blossom frowned. She was about to speak once again, when Bubbles quietly whispered to her in a soft voice. "He's telling the truth…"

Blossom nodded and did not bother to ask if Bubbles was certain, knowing that her blonde sister wouldn't have spoken up if she wasn't sure. In her mind, there was one question above all that the redhead wanted to ask Boomer. If he was here, then where was…

"Don't even think about it, Mojo." The blue ruff turned towards the startled monkey-like villain he was holding up. He and the girls all clearly caught Mojo's whispered ramblings of immediate new evil plans to himself after hearing the previous conversation. "You're not off the hook. After this, you're doing your time in jail." Boomer spoke with a composed tone. Before Buttercup, Blossom or Bubbles could say anything, Mojo abruptly screeched.

"But-But what about my machine, the deadly attack automaton which I, Mojo Jojo, had designed and created by myself as a weapon with the intention and objective of destroying the Powerpuff Girls, allowing me, Mojo Jojo, to finally take over Townsville as its sole and rightful ruler-" Mojo was abruptly cut-off when the gigantic carcass of the UFO-style MoMD that the girls (Buttercup) destroyed earlier was suddenly picked up from the ground.

"This piece of junk? I got it."

All attention was drawn towards the new arrival, a handsome guy with spiky jet black hair who was effortlessly lifting up and spinning atop a single finger the massive UFO carcass above his head as if it weighed no heavier than a mere feather.

Bubbles felt her black-haired sister stiffen beside her.

Buttercup clenched her fists. She felt her temper rising at the mere sight of those intense forest green eyes that just seemed to always **always** stir something _unpleasant_ within her, and she couldn't help the scathing glare that crossed her gorgeous face.

"Butch…" The green puff managed to growl lowly from where she stood, gritting her teeth.

Butch smirked, fierce green eyes narrowing slightly. "Well, well, well. Long-time no see, Powderpuffs."

"It's **Power**puff, you fucking retard!" Buttercup spat, her scowl deepening. She had forgotten about how easily Butch could rile her up.

Butch merely sneered. "Newsflash, Butterbitch. You're a retard too if you think that, since we're fucking counterparts." Buttercup also seemed to forget about how easily she could rile Butch up. Counterparts indeed…

Buttercup's responding growl was loud and feral. She immediately moved into an offensive stance and was just about to attack, when her red-haired sister held up a single blocking hand in front of her face.

"Buttercup." Blossom spoke tersely, keeping her pink eyes locked straight at the two Rowdyruff brothers. "Not before them." _They will be the ones to initiate the fight, not you._

Buttercup clenched her teeth, hesitating for a single tense moment, but otherwise stayed put and eased out of her attacking stance.

Blossom slowly retracted her arm. Out of the corner of her narrowed pink eyes, she saw Bubbles hold back a worried fidget.

Boomer turned back towards the monkey-like villain he was holding up. He sighed, "Really, Mojo, it hasn't even been a week. You should stop playing villain and just retire already. Stop being such a bother." Mojo spluttered indignantly at that, the blond ruff's words raising the Powerpuffs' interest. "What will Brick do when he sees all the trouble you caused again…"

"Throw him back to that _island of monkeys**¹**_."

Mojo's anew babbling was immediately silenced by a deep powerful voice.

Blossom warily suppressed a slight shiver.

All heads turned to find another familiar guy with long red hair tied in a neat low ponytail coolly making his way over towards them.

Blossom narrowed her eyes. "Brick…"

Brick stopped right in between where his two brothers stood, his arms crossed, his handsome face unreadable.

Mojo squirmed uneasily in Boomer's inescapable hold, feeling a single bead of sweat slowly trickle down the side of his face.

All six super-powered beings currently in existence was reunited.

All of them sixteen years of age, and much **much** more powerful.

The two sides engaged in a stare down. The air surrounding them was undeniably tense and thick with apprehension, most especially on the girls' part.

Brick's half-lidded eyes stared down his surroundings, the red ruff's spine-chilling red eyes that only his counterpart's defiant rose pink ones can directly look at and hold his gaze. Buttercup and Bubbles secretly admired their red-haired sister for that. Blossom undeniably had the scariest counterpart out of the three of them, especially now that they were all sixteen, stronger and so **so** _different_ from when they were kids.

Eyes the color of blood narrowed slightly.

"Butch." The bored black-haired ruff looked up at his 'eldest' brother at the low utterance of his name.

"That piece of junk you're holding…" Brick lowly drawled. "Get rid of it."

"What!? No, wait-!" Mojo loudly protested as Butch grinned darkly.

"Whatever you say."

The green ruff tossed the UFO-resembling carcass like a flying disc up high in the sky with ease while rapidly gathering a small ball of dark green energy in his free hand. The electric green ball sparked and crackled with raw power and Butch gleefully threw it up at the descending UFO carcass headed straight down above him. The quick collision generated a large deafening explosion of smoky black, gray and green, the surrounding air blown away by the tremendous force of the blast, ruffling the hairs of the seven that were standing present nearby down below. A light rain of ashes descended upon them, resembling falling gray snow, burning up and fading away melodramatically into the air before they could touch the rubble-caked ground.

Mojo pitifully froze weeping in Boomer's hold at the loss of his precious MoMD that he had been planning on rebuilding into a new and better model to hopefully try and defeat the Powerpuff Girls with (again) and subsequently passed out while a still crazily grinning Butch flicked off excess green sparks from his fingers.

Bubbles held back a tiny fearful gulp while Buttercup just rolled her eyes and scoffed under her breath. "Fucking showoff…"

It was a rather flimsy demonstration, but Blossom easily recognized it for what it really was. A warning of the boys' _stronger_ power that they won't hesitate to use on them _if needed be_.

Blossom's lips thinned.

"Brick." She spoke, gathering all attention towards her. Her two sisters inwardly commended her for not buckling at the pressure radiating from five pairs of superbeing_**²**_ eyes, including her own counterpart's rather bloodcurdling red ones. "Why are you here?"

Butch glanced at his 'eldest' brother while Boomer, his eyes ever closed, stayed silent.

Half-lidded red eyes briefly flickered. "Wait and see."

A frown crossed Blossom's beautiful features as Buttercup scowled from where she stood beside her.

Blossom opened her mouth and, just as she was about to speak again, a white limousine suddenly arrived, bearing the official insignia of the mayor of Townsville. Six pairs of eyes darted towards it as the passenger door opened and out came Miss Bellum, followed by none other than the Mayor himself.

"We can explain that, girls." Miss Bellum spoke, walking with the Mayor in tow towards the middle of where the two groups of super-powered siblings stood.

"Hi, girls!" The Mayor cheerfully greeted, happily waving at them, blissfully ignorant of the tension in the air.

"Miss Bellum, Mayor?" Bubbles exchanged a quick glance with her equally surprised sisters. "What are you doing here…?"

Blossom, who had kept one eye steady on their counterparts, narrowed her eyes at the fact that none of the guys looked at all surprised. Instead, it seemed as if they were actually expecting the appearance of the Mayor and his assistant.

"Good, you're all here." Miss Bellum turned towards the Rowdyruffs and nodded at them. "Boys, we're leaving Mojo Jojo to you after he serves his jail time. Please make sure he doesn't cause another trouble for at least another month…" Every single one of them knew that Mojo Jojo wouldn't be retiring from playing villain any time soon and therefore resigned themselves to just limiting the amount of disturbances the monkey-like villain would cause to Townsville instead.

Butch shrugged, "We'll try, no promises though…"

"Alright, just what the hell's going on here?" Buttercup demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

It was the Mayor who explained. "You see girls, the Rowdyruff Boys here went by my office earlier and told me that they are now neutral!"

"WHAT?!"

The Powerpuff Girls exclaimed in surprise, their heads simultaneously snapping towards their counterparts. Butch had on an amused smirk, his forest green eyes glinting, Boomer's face was calm and serene as always, and Brick looked apathetic, his eyes closed.

Before the girls could manage to find their voices, Miss Bellum spoke. "Boys, please tell the girls what you told us."

Eyes the shade of blood slowly opened. "We came back to live our lives in peace. That's it." Brick looked at all three of the girls directly in the eyes, stopping on Blossom's the last and the longest. "My brothers and I don't care whether you believe it or not, just don't bother us. Watch us for every single second every day, we don't care. You'd just be wasting your precious time in useless paranoia."

"Giving your permission?" Blossom narrowed her eyes. "My, how generous, Brick."

Brick just tilted his head down at her in a condescending manner. "Like I said, you'd just be wasting your time. Don't expect anything from us." Intense red eyes directly pierced light pink ones. "Because contrary to how much you three believe, we don't care about terrorizing Townsville nor do we enjoy antagonizing you girls anymore, even if we had the spare time to do so." Brick dully explained. "I'm sure the both of us have better things to do than get hung up on the past. It's narcissistic and just plain dumb."

Blossom tried hard not to show that she was actually taken aback, ignoring Butch's not so quiet snickering and Boomer's inaudible sigh. Bubbles and Buttercup looked incredulous. All three Powerpuffs were rendered silent.

The pink puff's lips thinned. "I see…"

"Do you?" Her counterpart challenged.

Blossom's eyes flashed in defiance. "We'll find out."

Red eyes the color of blood bore into rose pink ones for a moment before Brick smirked. Blossom did not want to admit how nostalgic it was nor will she admit how her heart had skipped a beat at seeing how attractively roguish he just looked right then.

"See, girls?" The Mayor cheered. "Isn't it great?"

"You can't be serious, Mayor!" Buttercup yelled, glaring fiercely at her counterpart. "You actually believe them?!"

"No, we don't." Miss Bellum was the one who answered, stepping forward and gaining back all attention. "That is precisely why we need you girls to act as the boys' guides and watchers for an indefinite amount of time."

"WHAT!?"

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" Buttercup angrily screamed, glaring harder at her sneering counterpart. Blossom didn't chastise her for her language.

Bubbles was speechless, shocked disbelief the most prominent amongst the obscure mix of emotions openly displayed in her sky blue eyes. "W-Why…"

"Trust us, girls. This is for the good of everyone." Miss Bellum sighed. If the Rowdyruff Boys truly were neutral, then there's less to worry about, for both Townsville and the girls themselves.

"It's not as if we had a choice in the first place…" Blossom finally sighed. She narrowed her eyes, glancing at her and her sisters' counterparts. "And they actually agreed to this?"

Butch scoffed and rolled his eyes, "What, you think we had a choice when _you_ don't?"

Blossom's warning gaze and Bubbles' unsettled one forced Buttercup to bite back her tongue.

"There's no problem then!" The Mayor clapped his hands rather childishly, a jovial smile on his face.

All six super-powered beings couldn't help but give Miss Bellum a commiserating look. Miss Bellum merely sighed in accustomedness.

Brick sighed. "If that's all, we'll be taking our leave."

At a silent command that the girls missed, both Butch and Boomer started hovering lightly off the ground. Brick turned around, about to follow.

"Wait."

The Rowdyruff leader paused when he heard his counterpart's soft yet powerful call. He hesitated at first, silently debating with himself for a second, before finally deciding to let his fellow redhead speak with a small barely noticeable tilt of his head.

Blossom paused for a moment, quietly regarding her and her sister's counterparts with an unreadable look on her beautiful face. "Welcome back."

Bubbles and Buttercup's eyes quickly darted towards their red-haired sister in surprise and confusion. Blossom merely stood straight with her arms crossed, completely straight-faced as she stared at the back of her counterpart's head.

Butch blinked once before throwing his head back and let out a loud booming laugh. Boomer just lightly tilted his head, a small indecipherable smile on his face.

Brick, with his back facing the girls, sneered. "We never left."

The red ruff joined his two brothers in the air as his black-haired brother turned towards his counterpart.

"See you tomorrow, Butterbabe." Butch winked at Buttercup just before all three Rowdyruffs flew off with an unconscious Mojo Jojo in tow towards the direction of Townsville jail, leaving behind three streaks of their signature dark colors and the Powerpuff Girls standing there, confused. Well, mostly confused.

Bubbles was trying and failing to calm down Buttercup as the green puff was yelling out loud definite blush-inducing obscenities and curses directed towards her cocky counterpart. Blossom, however, was more focused on what her black-haired sister's counterpart's words meant.

The pink puff furrowed her eyebrows. "What did he mean by that…?"

"What was that, Blossom?" Bubbles turned towards her 'eldest' sister with a curious face. Buttercup was still clearly fuming but also directed her attention to her red-haired sister.

"Butch." Blossom glanced at Buttercup to see her black-haired sister's gorgeous face twist into a scowl. "His parting words were 'see you tomorrow'. What did he mean?"

Buttercup scoffed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. "Please, the idiot probably just said it to mess with me!"

"Buttercup…" Bubbles sighed at her sister.

"'See you tomorrow'…" Blossom's narrowed pink eyes slowly widened. "No… he can't possibly mean…" The redhead quickly turned to Miss Bellum for confirmation. The Mayor's assistant's solemn nod killed the tiny bit of naive hope left in her.

"What?" Bubbles asked, stepping closer. "What is it, Blossom?" Even Buttercup noticed the look on their red-haired sister's face.

Blossom turned to face her two sisters with a serious look in her narrowed pink eyes. "Girls, be prepared for tomorrow…"

"Why?" Buttercup frowned, her eyebrows furrowing in concern. "What's with tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow's when our third year in high school really starts." Blossom spoke with a frown on her beautiful face. "And the Rowdyruff Boys just transferred to our school…"

* * *

_"Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story."_

_\- Casey Stengel_

* * *

_**Author End Notes**_

_***¹: island of monkeys - from the episode 'Save Mojo'**_

_***²: Due to their experiences growing up that may or may not show up in future chapters, both the PPG and the RRB don't and won't see themselves as human. That's the reason why they can and will never refer to themselves or each other as 'human', and instead a 'being'.**_

_**It's hard writing Mo' Linguish. I'm seriously considering having Boomer ship Mojo off to speech therapy…**_

_**I hope I've written the characters in character (at least somewhat). Well, this is AU and I did say that they were different... Now that the six are teenagers, their characters changed and yet at the same time mostly stayed the same…**_


	3. II

_"Tomorrow's when our third year in high school really starts." Blossom spoke with a frown on her beautiful face. "And the Rowdyruff Boys just transferred to our school…"_

That was what kept repeating over and over again inside Buttercup's head as she got dressed in the early morning.

Lime green eyes briefly checked her reflection in the full-length mirror in her room. She was wearing a short-sleeved lime green shirt that exposed her belly button piercing (her lips briefly twitched as she remembered the Professor nearly had a heart attack when he first caught sight of it) and black skinny jeans with her favorite pair of green converse.

She ran her black wristband-clad hands through her shoulder-length raven bobbed locks a few times and Buttercup decided she looked alright enough (not that she actually cared much about her appearance) especially for someone who had trouble falling asleep last night, before grabbing her backpack and exited her room, heading downstairs to the kitchen for some breakfast.

Buttercup slid down the stair railings and felt her stomach rumble when her nose quickly caught scent of something delicious cooking. Sure enough, Buttercup entered the kitchen to find her blonde sister humming an upbeat tune while making another batch of fluffy pancakes along with some mouthwatering bacon and eggs. Bubbles was wearing a light blue spaghetti-strap tank top and white pleated miniskirt with a blue ribbon belt matching the lace up ribbon wedges on her feet. Buttercup inwardly rolled her eyes as she let her backpack fall down to the floor. Bubbles always was the most fashion-obsessed sister among the three of them.

"Smells good, Bubs." The black-haired puff yawned out, taking a seat on the dining table. Unlike her two sisters, Buttercup was not a morning person.

"Morning, Buttercup!" Bubbles cheerfully greeted, setting down the latest batch of pancakes atop the dining table, her light blonde hair styled in two low pigtails that reached down to her mid-back. Buttercup knew her sisters well, she could tell the blonde's usual sunny disposition was forced and she was partially distracting herself by making today's breakfast more elaborate and too-beautiful-to-eat.

Blossom was standing off to the side of the kitchen, pouring herself her daily morning cup of freshly-brewed battery-acid coffee, much stronger than her usual this morning, Buttercup noticed. The redhead was wearing an off-shoulder long-sleeved pink shirt and grey skinny jeans with dark pink peep toe pumps. Her long orange-red hair was tied up in a single high ponytail that fell down to her waist with a long red ribbon. After their hell puberty, Blossom stopped wearing her iconic big red bow in her previous rather childish manner, as the pink puff so put it.

"Good morning." Blossom greeted, taking a seat down at the table with her mug of steaming coffee in one hand and a copy of the daily newspaper in the other. Buttercup barely managed a grumbled reply from her over-stuffed cheeks, too busy pigging out on Bubbles' delicious cooking, eliciting a giggle from their blonde sister. Bubbles always has been the best cook among them all, the Professor and his liver and onions included. Bubbles happily chirped a greeting back as she set down her 'eldest' sister's plate in front of her, receiving a thankful smile from the redhead.

Taking a sip of her coffee, Blossom idly perused the newspaper as Bubbles poured syrup over her own small stack of blueberry pancakes. "Hmm, that's interesting…" The redhead lightly hummed, gaining the attention of her two sisters.

"What's interesting?" Bubbles curiously asked after swallowing a small forkful of her pancakes.

"Townsville High has a new principal." Blossom replied, "There's also a new business magnate in Townsville, one who's richer and far more influential than Mr. Morbucks."

"Ooh, Princess isn't gonna like that…" Bubbles winced, dreading to have to deal with the aforementioned spoiled girl at school.

The pink puff read the corresponding newspaper article aloud, "He's the one responsible for all the new malls, amusement parks, hotels and casinos being built recently. Apparently, the Mayor's planning on improving Townsville to better rival the other cities, and the top of his list includes Townsville's educational system and corporate sector…"

Bubbles tilted her head, swallowing another forkful of her pancakes. "That doesn't really sound like the Mayor…"

"You forget that Miss Bellum is his assistant." Blossom sent her a wry smile. "And the fact that campaign period is nearing once more."

"Well that's stupid." Sitting in front of the redhead, Buttercup merely rolled her green eyes and swallowed her food. "It's not like there's any **other** candidate other than that pickle-loving old fart."

"He's a good mayor." Bubbles said, feeling the need to defend the Mayor. "I admit, there are better mayors out there, but still…"

Buttercup scoffed, "Anyone's a better mayor than the Mayor."

"Except Fuzzy Lumpkins." Blossom commented, flipping a page of the newspaper.

All three girls shared a smirk with Bubbles lightly giggling.

Quickly draining her glass of fresh orange juice, Buttercup hesitated for a moment before bringing up the topic that she'd been dreading about since yesterday, effectively ending their farce of a normal morning. "Hey, Bloss…?"

Bubbles promptly quieted down, already getting a feeling from her enhanced sense of empathy, one of the few powers she had developed after their hell puberty.

Rose pink eyes glanced up from the newspaper for a single second before resuming reading. "I told you, Buttercup, Miss Bellum even confirmed it. We'll need to keep an especially closer eye on the boys while at school." There is currently only one high school in Townsville after all, and that is Townsville High.

Buttercup frowned and clenched her teeth. "Damn it! What the hell are they playing at, suddenly reappearing after six years…"

"Calm down, Buttercup." Blossom sighed as she carefully refolded the newspaper and set it aside for the Professor to read later.

"Maybe they're not planning anything…?" Bubbles spoke up hesitantly, slowly setting down her fork on her empty plate. "I mean, it's been six years right? A lot has changed since then…"

"Are you serious?!" Buttercup spun towards her blonde sister with an incredulous expression on her face. "You're saying that the boys suddenly came back to live normal lives and go to high school, with **us** no less? Those boys could never be good, Bubbles."

"And why not? We've changed, maybe they did too…" Bubbles gripped the hem of her skirt. "Even if it's just wistful thinking, but… we are counterparts after all…"

"Ugh. Don't remind me." Buttercup grumbled, lightly massaging her forehead. "Just thinking about mine gives me a headache…"

"Besides…" Bubbles softly voiced. "You heard what Boomer said to Mojo…"

"And you fell for it?" Buttercup scoffed. "Typical Bubbles, you always did have that crush on Boomer. Hell, I bet you still do…"

Bubbles blushed indignantly, grabbed one of the fresh blueberries from the fruit bowl nearby and chucked it at her black-haired sister. Buttercup just expertly caught it in her mouth and smirked. Bubbles huffed and crossed her arms, leaning back onto her seat.

Blossom, who had been drinking her coffee while silently listening to her two sisters argue, chose that moment to speak up. "Bubbles has a point though, Buttercup."

"You can't be serious, Blossom!" Buttercup raised her eyebrows, pointedly ignoring her blonde sister's equally surprised but triumphant look.

Blossom rolled her pink eyes. "What Boomer said and how the boys acted yesterday, the lack of a fight… you can't ignore the implications of that. Though, we also can't ignore the possibility of them misleading us…" She sighed as she closed her eyes. "I'm stressed with conflicting doubts. We'll see how today goes, and then…"

"You're fucking shitting me…" Buttercup scowled.

"Language, Buttercup. I'm just telling you to be wary of them and to watch yourself. If I have to hear about a fight, then it would be one that **the boys** started, got it?" Blossom explained sternly as all three of them stood up from the dining table and picked up their plates. "We don't know if they'll be as… _civil_ as they were yesterday. If they can't be good, they can at least be neutral."

Buttercup narrowed her eyes but grumbled her reluctant consent. "Fine!" All three of them knew that Blossom was right.

"Come on, Buttercup, who knows?" Sweet Bubbles was ever the optimist, though her smiling expression faltered a little. "We might be able to befriend them? You can't deny having friends with superpowers like us would be nice…" All three girls couldn't deny that they wanted companions (other than each other) that they wouldn't have to be careful around, unlike with how they had to constantly watch themselves and hold back around their _fragile_ human friends. But still, the Rowdyruff Boys…?

"You lose that bet." Buttercup muttered under her breath, picking up her backpack from the floor.

At that moment, the Professor came into the kitchen, looking tired and sleepy. He yawned loudly, rubbing one eye as he greeted the three girls. "Morning, girls…"

"Morning, Dad." Blossom greeted back, kissing the Professor on the cheek and gracefully walking past him to grab her dark pink handbag that was waiting on the couch at their living room. "Mornin' Dad." Buttercup grunted, not a morning person like her two sisters were, a fact that she shares with the Professor, also kissing the Professor on the cheek before quickly zipping away to wait impatiently for her two sisters at the door. "Morning, Daddy!" Bubbles giggled, kissing the Professor on the cheek and handing him a freshly brewed mug of espresso before skipping over to grab her own white leather hobo bag that was also on the couch at their living room.

"Bye, Professor!" The three sisters simultaneously called out before flying off to school, leaving behind three quickly fading streaks of their signature colors.

"Bye, girls!" Professor Utonium yelled back with a smile. "Have a good day and stay safe!" Not that his girls needed it, of course, but it was practically a habit for him by now.

The Professor didn't know that all three of his girls were also praying for themselves.

* * *

_**M ∙ I ∙ A ∙ S ∙ M ∙ A**_

* * *

_"Things do not change; we change."_

_\- Henry David Thoreau_

* * *

Townsville High, despite it being the sole high school in Townsville, was still considered as a rather excellent educational institute, bearing a few academic, athletic and artistic awards to its name (nearly all of which was earned by the three Utonium sisters).

When the girls arrived at Townsville High, Bubbles suddenly stopped and quickly tugged at her sisters' sleeves. The blonde hastily pointed up to the sky in a slightly frantic manner, "Girls, look!"

Both Blossom and Buttercup glanced up to see what their 'youngest' sister was pointing at and it was only thanks to their enhanced eyesight that they managed to catch the ends of the three streaks of dark colors above in the air before they had completely faded. Red, dark blue and dark green ran and zigzagged across the cloudless morning sky, straight towards the school building.

Well shit.

"Those aren't ours…" Bubbles quietly and nervously spoke, breaking the short silence that enveloped the three of them.

"Great." Buttercup grumbled, one wristband-clad hand tightening its grip on the strap of her backpack. "There goes the last of my denial…"

"Come on." Blossom rolled her eyes and led her two sisters inside. "We still have to meet up with the new principal to discuss our new _duties_ and we can't make the boys wait too long."

The three super-powered sisters entered the school building and headed straight for the principal's office.

Contrary to how their eyes immediately directed to the vice-principal and the new principal, the first thing the girls noticed was their respective counterparts.

Boomer was quietly sitting on an armchair to the left, casually leaning his chin on the palm of his hand. His eyes were closed as usual, his attractive face set in his typical tranquil expression. He was facing to the spacious office's opened large windows, as if taking in the picturesque view of Townsville High. A light breeze faintly ruffled his golden blond hair.

Bubbles could only stare.

He was absolutely breathtaking.

Butch was lounging on one of the two black leather couches, his arms draped across the back and his feet crossed atop the coffee table set in between the two couches. He was pointedly ignoring the sour glares of the austere vice-principal, who had long given up on harshly lecturing him. His head tilted back, he glanced to Buttercup with glinting forest green eyes and a smirk on his handsome face.

"About time you three got here…" He drawled lazily.

Buttercup's subsequent facial expression made the vice-principal's look sweeter than sugar.

Brick, his back turned towards them, was standing in front and a little to the side of the principal's desk. His stance indicated boredom and indifference, his thumbs hooked inside the pockets of his jeans. He acted as if the girls hadn't just entered the office with the principal's greeting.

Blossom pointedly ignored her counterpart's pointed ignoring and focused her gaze straight at the new principal.

In contrast to the old hag of a vice-principal, the new principal looked to be about in her mid-twenties to early-thirties and entirely professional. Ms. Roxana Hale, the golden nameplate atop her desk stated.

"Good, you're all here." Principal Hale laced her hands, her eyes holding everyone's gazes. "Let's make this quick."

"I'm sure you've already received your schedules, _re_schedules in the girls' cases." Principal Hale nodded towards the three Powerpuffs, "Due to your… _situation_, we've rearranged your timetables so that your classes match per counterpart."

Brick and Blossom remained unfazed, Boomer silently inclined his head, Bubbles fidgeted with the straps of her bag, Butch scoffed and rolled his eyes and Buttercup scowled.

Principal Hale's air suddenly turned serious and grim.

"I know who you all are and just what you can do." Principal Hale spoke sternly, looking at all of them straight in the eyes to show how serious she was. "Rest assured, I can and will be dealing with you six properly."

The puffs and ruffs were stunned. 'How the hell did someone incompetent like the Mayor manage to hire someone who's actually competent?'

'…Miss Bellum.' All six super-powered beings thought. 'Definitely Miss Bellum.'

The girls left the office a minute later, Principal Hale holding the boys back as she still had a few more things to discuss with them.

The three silently walked along a hallway towards their first class, the only one all three of them shared. Students started swarming inside the school, quickly filling up the background with noise and loud chatter.

Buttercup eventually spoke up. "What now, leader girl?"

After a minute of walking silently, Blossom looked up from her thoughts. "We go to class like normal people."

"And the boys?" Buttercup asked, one hand resting on her hip. Bubbles was walking next to her, worriedly fidgeting with the straps of her white shoulder bag.

Blossom didn't even pause.

"We hope they do the same."

* * *

Blossom fought the urge to sigh for the nth time.

As if sharing her first class with her counterpart wasn't enough, she was forced to endure one whole year of him sitting _right beside her_.

In hindsight, she really shouldn't have been surprised.

As she quietly sat in her seat at the front row, Blossom had never felt so stiff and tense in her life. And judging by Brick's face, or from what little she could read from his cold indifferent expression, he apparently felt the same. The two redheads were both sitting rigidly straight, perfectly and uncomfortably still, clearly avoiding making any contact with each other. This seating arrangement was choking the two of them.

The pink puff kept her eyes locked to the front, where the teacher stood and was slowly droning on a long tedious lecture with an equally dull voice, effectively boring most (all) of the students in the class, not that the said teacher noticed. Keeping one ear steadily listening to the lecture (that she already knew and apparently much better than the teacher), Blossom studied her counterpart out of the corner of her eyes, carefully making sure to do so in a surreptitious manner.

Brick was taller than her, and it annoyed her. His tall height made him more intimidating, as if his equally unusual-colored eyes weren't enough. He had long red hair, a shade or two darker than hers, reaching down to his lower back and tied in a low ponytail, his bangs framing his irrefutably handsome face and bringing out his half-lidded eyes the color of blood. The pink puff took note that his trademark backwards red hat was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he got rid of it in the same manner she stopped wearing her childish big red bow…?

Blossom twirled the pink pen in her grip once. She wrote down a few notes on the lecture subject.

Brick's attire only added to his appealing looks, if the rather pointed stares coming from a third of the girls in the class (the other two-thirds were split between his brothers) were anything for Blossom to judge by, with her counterpart wearing black pants with a long-sleeved button-up red shirt that had its sleeves folded just below his elbows and a few buttons undone, giving the pink puff a glimpse of a black stone pendant hanging around his neck.

Blossom nearly broke her pen. He was _sinfully_ good-looking.

Blossom suppressed a scowl as she took down more notes, writing a little too roughly. The redhead quickly banished those thoughts away and instead gave a discreet checking glance at the two other counterpart pairs sitting inside the classroom.

All the way at the back of the classroom, Buttercup was doing a fairly good job of restraining herself from punching the living lights out of her counterpart, who was currently sleeping (snoring) in the seat right behind her. Thanks to her super hearing, Blossom could quite clearly hear her black-haired sister's teeth gritting in frustration. In comparison, Bubbles was lucky enough to be seated far away from her own counterpart. Every few minutes or so, her blonde sister's light blue eyes would nervously glance towards the back of Boomer's head from where he quietly sat a good number of rows to the left in front of her.

Out of the three of them, it was quite clear that Blossom was the most unfortunate.

It was only a few incredibly frustrating minutes later that the redhead paused in her writing and closed her eyes, giving up the silent charade between the two of them with a small inaudible sigh escaping from her lips.

"Brick." Blossom's melodious voice was too low for the four other super-powered beings in the class to pick up, much less for an ordinary human. Light pink eyes daringly glanced sideways, directly up at half-lidded red eyes that were staring straight at the projector screen in front of the classroom. "What are you doing here?"

Half-lidded red eyes briefly darkened and Brick held in a sneer.

The pink puff was gravely serious. She wasn't asking, she was commanding an answer from him.

Dark thoughts bubbled inside his head and his thrice-damned blood started to sing, but he swiftly suppressed them. Besides, he was more annoyed than anything, really.

Closing his eyes, he answered just as lowly. "Isn't it obvious?" Brick's mouth barely moved, Blossom quietly noted. "I'm here to learn."

Blossom's grip on her pen tightened for a split second before relaxing.

"So am I."

"Good for you."

She didn't miss the underlying mocking tone from his rich velvet voice.

Blossom's eyes narrowed. The tight grip she unknowingly had on her pen loosened once, her hand automatically released the pen, thin cracks on its pink frame.

"Is that all you're here for?" Blossom's words were more derisive than probing. "No tricks? Or maybe this is all really just part of some elaborate and twisted revenge scheme…"

Brick sneered. "Cross my fucking non-existent evil heart and hope to die _a second time_." His tone was impassive and cold.

Blossom actually flinched. Brick felt just the slightest bit placated at that.

The class ended, and all the students hastily stood up and left in a noisy rushing crowd. Butch and Buttercup were the first two to exit the classroom, zipping away faster than the blink of an eye. Boomer followed the two rushing greens in a comparatively more relaxed slowness, a still uncertain Bubbles leaving right after giving her blond counterpart a head start. Two pairs of blue eyes, one light and the other dark, both gave a fleeting glance at the remaining two sitting inside the classroom just before they left. Blossom and Brick paid them no attention, even as they were quickly left all alone in the classroom, the teacher having already left a few seconds before.

The red ruff finally turned to face his counterpart and leaned down, his mouth right next to her ear.

"At least," Brick's voice was low and shiver-inducing. "That's what you believe, right, babe?"

Brick then swiftly stood up and headed for the door.

"Brick, wait." She looked up, willingly connecting her light pink eyes with her counterpart's intense red ones as Brick paused at the door. "What about your brothers?"

Eyes the frightening shade of blood glanced down at her seated figure once, for just a split second, before coolly exiting the classroom.

"Ask your sisters."

* * *

He was taller than her, that's for sure, easily looming over her and it really got on Buttercup's nerves.

He had an unfortunately undeniably handsome face and spiky jet black hair, his bangs lightly falling over his fierce eyes that were an intense color of forest green. He wore a short-sleeved black shirt that clung to his strong torso and dark jeans with a green belt. Two dog tags glinted from where they hung around his neck on a thin silver chain.

All the girls in the classroom blushed and drooled over with hungry gazes at what could be perfectly described as _yum_. He was to die for, and Buttercup was the only one there who knew how very real that statement was as the Townsville High girls' new 'bad boy eye candy' could easily kill them with a single disinterested flick of his finger.

He was in her second class.

"What the fuck are you doing here…?" Buttercup hissed, drilling her glaring lime green eyes right into taunting forest green ones.

He was her damn psycho counterpart.

"Sitting." A jeering smirk crossed his handsome face, causing all the girls in the class to swoon even more at him. "And as far as I know, it's legal."

And he was sitting right behind her. Again.

Buttercup gritted her teeth. "There are lots of other free seats inside this classroom…" The black-haired puff stressed.

"Oh, you don't have to ask." Butch gestured with his hand towards the rows of free seats to their right. "You're free to move. Be my guest."

"I mean you, you moron!" Buttercup scowled. "Move your ass somewhere else! Preferably far away from me!"

"Hmm…" Butch didn't even try and pretend to think it over as he leaned back comfortably on his seat. "Nah."

"And why not?" Buttercup asked irritably.

"'Cause it annoys you."

"Your butt-ugly face annoys me." Buttercup pointedly ignored the glares directed towards her by the girls in the class for her little comment.

"You know what, I think I'll move after all." Butch stood up from his seat. Buttercup gave an audible sigh of relief. "Finally… wait, what-"

Butch palmed the desk in front of him and swiftly made a small agile flip …to the empty seat _right beside_ Buttercup.

The girls in their class all squealed at the minor display of athletics from their black-haired new object of affection while the green puff's gorgeous face twisted into an angry scowl. She snapped when Butch casually looked over towards her direction with a smirk on his handsome face. "Yo, Butterfly. Miss me?"

Buttercup slammed her left hand down on her desk and brought her face close to his. "Are you asking for a fight?!" She hissed lowly, their faces only inches away from each other.

Forest green eyes glinted as Butch's smirked turned sneering. "You answering, Butterbutt?"

"Sorry, _Butch_," Buttercup leaned away and spat out the name as if it was completely drenched in Antidote X. "But I'm not a retarded psycho like you."

"You sure about that, _Buttercup_?" Butch sneered back. "Because we're fucking counterparts, remember, or do I have to keep reminding you?"

Buttercup gritted her teeth. Where the hell was the fucking teacher…?!

"If you want a fight so bad, why don't you throw the first punch?" Buttercup angrily growled through gritted teeth.

"Careful, Butterbabe." Butch smirked down at her. "I might just do that since you're apparently too chicken to do so." His forest green eyes were absolutely taunting.

Buttercup stilled. "What the fuck did you just call me?" The black-haired puff demanded, narrowed lime green eyes flashing in warning.

Forest green eyes flashed back in return.

The tension between the two of them was thick, intense and just plain obvious. What _kind_ of tension between the two of them, however, was apparently not. Well, either that, or the students at Townsville High were just plain stupid as Buttercup felt numerous stabbing glares directed towards her coming from all the jealous girls in her class. What the fuck? Oh, they are so better not be insinuating that she and Butch were…

"Yo, new guy!"

Buttercup broke her stare-off with her counterpart and let her face fall to her hands with a loud groan as Butch raised a brow from where he sat beside her.

The black-haired ruff turned around and looked up to find a guy with brown hair and black eyes angrily glaring down at him. He was admittedly fairly charming and indeed had looks with the 'bad boy aura', but nowhere near the green ruff's level, nor his two brothers'. Buttercup knew that, unlike the brown-haired wannabe standing in front of them, the three Rowdyruff brothers were _real_ bad boys.

"Who the fuck are you?" Butch dully asked as he stood up and towered over the new arrival, which only incensed the brown-haired guy even more.

"Mitch Mitchelson, the hottest and baddest guy in Townsville High." Mitch crossed his arms and smirked. He looked so smug and absolutely sure of himself.

Butch just wanted to laugh.

He decided to humor the little wannabe. "And?"

"And I want you to stop flirting with my girl-_best_ friend. So back off or else!"

Butch raised a brow as both he and Buttercup caught that little slip. Behind him, the black-haired girl herself merely sat up straight and sighed in annoyance.

Her situation with Mitch was complicated. He was Buttercup's best guy friend, the closest among their small group of childhood friends that she grew up with as 'one of the guys'. Though seeing him only as a friend, a brother even, Buttercup knew about the fact that Mitch was in love with her and everyone knows it, fuck her life… The black-haired girl often had to deal with awkward moments, along with the said brunet's growing protective (possessive) attitude. Whenever a guy would show interest in her, Mitch would often butt in and pretend to be her boyfriend in order to drive the guy off, never mind the fact that she could have it herself. It was incredibly annoying. No one owned her, damn it!

Buttercup inwardly grimaced. She had hoped that he'd outgrown that little childhood crush on her, but to her chagrin, it instead grew into love, one that was completely one-sided and would definitely not change, as much as the hopeful brunet would keep hoping, which she'd rather not have, most especially with the Rowdyruff's (Butch's) arrival.

Half-heartedly, as she was used to her friend's attitude, Buttercup angrily yelled out, "Mitch, you shit-for-brains! Stay out of this!"

Sadly, she was pointedly ignored by both egoistical males (idiots).

"Wait. You think _I_ was trying to get in the pants of _this_…?" Butch deadpanned as he pointed to himself then to his irritated and glaring counterpart, who visibly twitched at his words. "Dude, even though you've got great taste, you really do have shit for brains."

"I'm only gonna say this once, so you better listen well, newbie." Mitch growled threateningly, black eyes flashing in anger. "Stay the fuck away from Buttercup, and you might just live to see another day."

Buttercup slapped her exasperated face. 'That idiot…!'

Butch merely raised a brow. "You don't know me, do you?"

"Why should I?" Mitch scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You're just some fucking pansy ass newbie who doesn't know who he's talking to!" He growled, acting tough.

'Mitch, you dead moron, shut the fuck up already!' Buttercup mentally screamed. '**You** don't know **who** you're talking to!'

"Oh? Well then…" A dark grin slowly formed on Butch's handsome face. Forest green eyes glinted. "Allow me to introduce myself."

Mitch couldn't help but jump back when another hand suddenly shot out from behind Butch and clasped itself tight against the black-haired ruff's outstretched fist that was _an inch away from his face_.

'He's as fast as Buttercup…!' Mitch's startled, and maybe even scared, black eyes traced the hand that saved him all the way up an arm to where Buttercup stood close behind her counterpart, a stern frown on her gorgeous face.

Once again, Butch merely raised a brow, his handsome face schooled into a bored apathy. A small unreadable gleam darkened in half-lidded forest green eyes and Mitch, unnerved by the look in the black-haired guy's eyes, fought to instinctively take a step back.

Buttercup tiptoed up and leaned her mouth right next to her counterpart's ear.

"Butch." Her soft warm breath whispered a strong warning. "Don't…"

"How cute, you're protecting your precious little boyfriend." The green ruff sneered. "Gag me."

Buttercup scowled, her lime green eyes flashing her short temper. "He is not my fucking boyfriend." Her free hand quickly wrapped around Butch's throat, her sharp nails lightly digging into the exposed skin of his neck. "And don't fucking tempt me." Diamond-hard nails dug deeper into the black-haired ruff's equally diamond-hard skin, drawing small beads of blood.

Butch was unaffected and merely sneered wider as he felt Buttercup let go of her crushing grip on his neck.

"I see you don't want me to ruin his face." The green ruff spoke sarcastically, rolling his eyes as Buttercup narrowed her own. "I don't blame you, it's fucking ugly enough as it is."

Mitch, who had been quietly standing at the sidelines and just watching the two bantering counterparts with a confused expression on his face, glared and growled at Butch for his comment. "What the fuck did you just say-"

"Mitch, shut the fuck up and stay out of this! Don't make me fucking castrate you and shove your dick down your fucking throat to shut you up myself!" Buttercup exploded as she redirected her furious glowing green eyes upon the brunet, causing him to flinch and take a few frightened steps back.

Mitch paled and immediately turned a sickly shade of green. Black eyes trembling, he gave an audible gulp, squeaked and frantically nodded his head.

"Such a dirty mouth, Butters." Butch interrupted, drawling scathingly as he raised a single brow. "I admit that I was seriously turned on. Just one thing though…"

Butch chose that moment to escape his counterpart's loosened hold on him and reverse their positions, roughly pinning her to the nearby wall faster than the blink of an eye. With his right hand pinning both her wrists above her head while his other hand was firmly gripping her throat in a crushing hold, pain briefly flashed through lime green eyes and it sent a brief surge of thrill to the black-haired ruff. His blood spiked, thankfully too quick and quashed. Buttercup's gorgeous face contorted into a dark scowl as her counterpart lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered huskily, "Piss off my fights, bitch."

Tightening his grip on his counterpart's throat for a quick second, he swiftly let go and stepped back, causing Buttercup to fall down to the ground with one hand lightly holding her throbbing neck. Lime green eyes glowed and glared defiantly up at forest green eyes.

Butch silently watched her for a few minutes with smoldering dark green eyes before he shoved his hands into his pants pockets and walked away, heading straight for the classroom door. All the silently watching other students in the class parted for him like a terrified red sea.

Mitch quickly snapped out of it and immediately held out a helping hand towards Buttercup, but the green puff only slapped it away harshly as she stood up, her furious lime green eyes trained on her counterpart's muscular back as he casually walked away. Buttercup gritted her teeth, barely holding herself back from retaliating. She remembered her 'eldest' sister's words from earlier, and Blossom was a lot scarier than Butch, hands-down.

Mitch clenched his teeth, his fists tightening as they shook in rage. His narrowed black eyes darkened at Butch's walking form.

"You… You…" He suddenly ran forward, rushing with one fist extended towards the back of the black-haired ruff's head. "…Fucking bastard!"

Buttercup's eyes widened in alarm and she cursed under her breath. Before she could move, Butch had already turned around and gripped Mitch's outstretched fist with one hand, causing the brunet to flinch at the inhumanely tight grip. With a single flick of his wrist, the green ruff easily very nearly dislocated Mitch's elbow. Buttercup watched, with wide green eyes, as Mitch fell down to the floor with a loud pained cry.

"How weak." The black-haired ruff sneered down at the brunet he was currently torturing. If he twisted his wrist just few degrees more, Mitch's elbow would be dislocated.

"Butch!" Buttercup called out loud with an angry growl. Her warning lime green eyes were staring straight at his forest green eyes and a smirk graced Butch's lips. "Let him go!"

Mitch froze.

Sensing the sudden lack of struggling, Butch looked down at the brunet and raised a brow.

"B-Butch…?" Mitch's black eyes widened in fear-filled recognition. "O-Of t-the _Rowdyruff Boys_…?"

"Oh, so you do know me!" The black-haired ruff grinned widely. Mitch gulped and Buttercup's eyes narrowed as Butch's grin turned feral. The black-haired ruff let go of Mitch's nearly-dislocated arm and instead gripped his neck in a choking grip and lifted him up. Butch hovered in the air, taking the utterly terrified and sweating brunet with him. Mitch gulped, feet dangling desperately in the air, hardly able to breathe in his situation. Literally.

"Butch!" Buttercup called out once more. Her fisted hands clenched and unclenched from where they laid at her sides. "Drop him!"

"Or what, Butterfly?" Butch smirked and, just to add to the green puff's already-growing anger, tauntingly shook the frozen-in-fear Mitch in front of her.

Buttercup gritted her teeth. Lime green eyes started glowing. "You are seriously asking for a fight…"

"Only from you, Cupcake." Butch said sweetly, narrowing his eyes as he softly cooed down to her.

Buttercup's eye twitched as she made a strangled noise from the back of her throat that sounded not unlike a strangled cat that sent her black-haired counterpart into a mad laughing fit.

"I'll say this one last time, asshole." Buttercup's eyes glowed brighter in warning. "Drop. Him. **Now**."

"Come and make me." With a mocking smirk, forest green eyes _looked down at her_. "That's if you still got it, 'Toughest Fighter'."

That's it!

At that, Buttercup just snapped.

She absolutely hated being called weak, especially by her fucking _counterpart_!

Lime green eyes flashed and the green puff flew forward, leaving behind a trail of light green. She delivered an overpowered punch right at the black-haired ruff's gut, causing him to let go of Mitch as Buttercup sent Butch careening through several walls.

* * *

Truthfully, Bubbles felt like she was luckier than her two sisters at first.

She was the only one out of the three of them to not be seated anywhere near their respective counterpart during their first class. Honestly, she felt a little sorry for Blossom. At least Buttercup had the small silver lining of the fact that she couldn't see Butch when he sat behind her.

Bubbles had steeled herself and entered her second and favorite class, Art, full on intent on being prepared in running into (evading) her counterpart, only to find out that Boomer wasn't taking that particular class.

She didn't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed.

Bubbles' second class ended earlier than expected and the blonde happily bade farewell to a few friendly classmates, which helped to temporarily distract her from worrying about her counterpart. The blonde walked with a skip in her steps as she made her way over towards the lockers hallway and realized that she wasn't exactly as prepared as she thought she was.

There, standing a short distance in front of her and busy organizing a few of his things inside his locker that was _right beside_ her own, was her counterpart.

She immediately noticed that he was taller than her now, which made her inwardly pout. It seemed that everyone was taller than her, even when she wore high heels! When faced with her or her sisters, but mostly her, Bubbles quickly noticed that Boomer's handsome blithe face would set into this typical expression of serene detachment that seemed to never fail to attract star-struck stares and second and third glances from the female population. His face blithe or serenely detached, his rapidly growing base of fangirls didn't care. He and his brothers were rapidly becoming the top three heartthrobs of Townsville High, Bubbles observed with no amount of surprise.

Boomer had golden blond hair that looked softer than feathers and, for a moment, Bubbles was tempted to run her hands through those cottony sunlight locks. His bangs were parted at the center to reveal his mesmerizing deep ocean blue eyes, that is, if his eyes were open and not closed as it seemed to always be. Bubbles silently wondered the reason why…

Boomer's clothes were rather simple and casual, but it suited him. He wore blue jeans with a short-sleeved blue shirt that was left unbuttoned over a white long-sleeved one. Boomer was downright dreamy and all the equally, if not even more, blushing girls all passing by the lockers hallway attested to that fact.

Bubbles bit her lip as she stood there rather stupidly, watching her counterpart standing right next to her locker, and the blonde puff mentally groaned as Boomer seemed to not be leaving any time soon, nor was he in any hurry to do so. Bubbles let out a small sigh.

Bracing herself, the blonde puff swiftly zipped over to her locker and silently opened it, hiding her face as she quickly stuffed her white shoulder bag inside. If Boomer noticed her, he did not show it.

Her nerves lifted slightly at that as she started quickly but quietly arranging a few of her things for her next class. 'So far, so good…'

"Bubbles."

The blonde puff jumped, startled light blue eyes widening at the soft mellow voice very obviously directed towards her. Boomer was arranging a few notebooks, not once glancing away from the inside of his locker.

"Please stop acting skittish around me."

Bubbles blinked in surprise. 'What…?'

Boomer closed his locker door softly, a thin composition notebook casually tucked underneath one arm, gaining the blonde puff's attention. He turned to face her, eyes ever closed.

"I can't really speak for my brothers, but I already told you that I have no intention whatsoever to fight." His voice was soft yet his tone was the opposite, and Bubbles just noticed that he hadn't once uttered a single lie to her and her sisters since yesterday, as did his brothers. "So I'd rather not deal with your silly fear throughout high school. It's as annoying as it was back when we were kids."

Bubbles narrowed her eyes up at him, slowly closing her locker door. "Back then you were evil."

The corner of his lips quirked up slightly, his handsome face still serenely void of emotion. "Back then."

Bubbles was silent.

Boomer sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. "Look, we don't really care whether you three believe it or not, but my brothers and I just want to go through our lives in peace. I'm sure you and your sisters do too, so just do the both of us a favor and act like I don't exist, easy enough. I don't really care."

'I don't really care.' Her counterpart's words echoed inside her head and Bubbles frowned. "Boomer… I don't fear you, you know that…"

"Do I?" The blue ruff replied in a blasé voice. The _you were trying to avoid me_ went unsaid.

Bubbles' beautiful face saddened as she continued softly, "Fears aren't silly as well…"

"I know." Boomer said simply. "My brothers and I are well acquainted with fear, remember?"

Bubbles flinched.

"My brothers and I could do to spend high school without getting fearful looks thrown at us." Boomer's voice was flat. The hand that was clutching his notebook tightened for a split second before loosening. "You don't know how annoying and _sickeningly haunting_ it is…"

"Boomer…" Bubbles' sad eyes darted down towards the ground. Her soft voice quietly whispered, "I don't…"

"That's right, **you don't**."

Bubbles flinched once more.

The blue ruff took one look, or at least his version of taking a look with his eyes closed, at his counterpart and let out a small sigh, lightly shaking his head. "Never mind…" His voice and posture recovered its typical serene detachment.

Boomer suddenly paused. He quickly reached out his free hand and grabbed hold of his surprised counterpart's wrist and pulled her towards him.

Sky blue eyes widened, "Wha-!"

Bubbles' wide eyes widened even more as the wall to their left suddenly exploded. Butch was sent flying behind her, the air ruffling her light blonde pigtails as he crashed right into the lockers to their right in a rain of slowly clearing smoke and debris. With a low grunt, Boomer's black-haired brother slowly picked himself up from the dented mess and rubble that used to be a whole row of large metal lockers along with the wall behind them.

"Yep, she's still got it alright. And to think I was just kidding…" The green ruff muttered as he slowly stood up. Forest green eyes flashed with madness and battlelust. "…_Until now_." Butch shot forward with a crazed grin and disappeared into the hole in the wall that his earlier explosive entrance made, leaving behind a trail of dark green that quickly faded.

Bubbles blinked.

The blonde puff stood there, rather stupidly, mouth slightly open in shock as her mind processed what just happened. 'Did Boomer just…?!'

Boomer quickly let go of his grip on his counterpart's wrist and turned around, stuffing his hands inside his pants pockets as he walked away.

"Boomer, wait!" Bubbles cried out, making her counterpart halt in his steps.

The blue ruff turned his head around to look back.

"A-Ah, t-thank you…" The blonde puff shyly and hesitantly spoke, a light pink blush dusting her cheeks.

_Cute…_ Boomer stared at her for a full minute before looking away and continued walking.

Bubbles looked down with a small sigh. She fiddled with one of her low pigtails.

Boomer suddenly paused. Unseen by his blonde counterpart, a small smile quirked up his lips.

"…You're welcome."

Bubbles quickly looked up, but her counterpart was gone. It didn't stop a smile from slowly erupting on her face though.

Buttercup was wrong, and Bubbles was going to prove it.

* * *

Dark pink heels followed closely behind by a pair of blue wedges swiftly made their way towards the school infirmary as soon as lunch time rolled in. Furious narrowed pink eyes immediately focused on the sole occupant inside the room, sitting cross-legged atop one of the infirmary's pristine white beds and looking oddly pensive.

"Buttercup." Blossom's gaze was piercing. "It's only been **a few hours**."

Buttercup had the decency to flinch and look away in shame.

Blossom sighed and shook her head. "You two really couldn't leave each other alone for more than a few hours…?"

A light giggle escaped Bubbles' lips at that.

Buttercup glared, her eye twitching once. The way her red-haired sister worded it, it sounded like she and Butch…

The green puff shivered.

"Seven classrooms, four hallways, nineteen thankfully unoccupied lockers, the greenhouse and one of the gymnasiums." Blossom listed off with an unreadable face. "They're cutting off the rest of the day and had to rearrange things so that classes can still continue tomorrow." Pink eyes flashed dangerously.

Buttercup flinched. No, she was **not** cowering in front of her seriously pissed off 'eldest' sister.

"I am not in the mood for this. It's stressful and just plain hard enough with the boys' unexpected return…" Blossom sighed, massaging her temples. "I don't need you adding to it."

Buttercup winced. Ouch. Busted…

"So what's my punishment?" The black-haired puff bit her lip nervously. "Detention for the rest of the year? Permanent grounding? Lifetime imprisonment in maximum security? Burning my blanket…?"

Blossom's slightly glowing pink eyes narrowed, unamused.

"Consider yourself lucky that the new principal's rather lenient. It's only fitting that you spend tomorrow and the saturday helping to fix the damage you brought to the school. As the other one to blame for this mess, Butch will also be joining you, of course."

A wide-eyed Buttercup shot up at that. "What!? But-!"

"Don't even think about complaining, much less escaping." Blossom's voice was cold. "The vice-principal directly called both Brick and I just to make sure that you and Butch actually do your punishment."

Rose pink eyes narrowed further and glowed even more, and Buttercup couldn't help but flinch. Unlike her, when Blossom got angry, she didn't yell. Just the opposite, the pink puff kept cool, calm and cold. The madder she was, the colder she turned, more chilling she spoke and more glacial the surroundings became. Blossom spoke in a piercing icy voice that made her yelling much more preferred.

"I had to endure both my first, second and third classes seated right next to my counterpart and I won't be surprised if I have to endure the rest of my classes like that as well, multiplied by the fact that I have to bear with this for a whole year. I was looking forward to lunch, the only time I could be free of said counterpart. To my surprise, I found myself forced to forgo lunch and get summoned to the principal's office with none other than Brick, only to be yelled at by the vice-principal. So Buttercup, **deal with it**, just like I did." A quietly observing Bubbles couldn't blame her black-haired sister for cowering away from Blossom, she was barely holding herself after all. "You should be thankful that I'm not forcing you to drink Antidote X while you fix up the school."

"But then I wouldn't be able to fix the school…" Buttercup forced herself not to slap a hand to her mouth as Blossom's expression chilled even more.

At that moment, very fortunate for Buttercup, the school doctor entered the room. With the return of the boys, the girls (most especially Buttercup) felt that they would be seeing more of him throughout the year.

"Well, aside from a lot of cuts and bruises, there's nothing really wrong with Buttercup here." The school doctor smiled at the three of them. "The more serious injuries had already started healing themselves about half an hour ago, no doubt because of the Chemical X in her blood. I see no real reason to keep her here any longer…"

"Finally!" Buttercup cheered and immediately jumped off the white bed she was sitting on and made a mad dash out the door, much to the amusement of the school doctor and Bubbles. Blossom merely sighed and offered a small apology to the school doctor for the inconvenience and quickly left, followed by her blonde sister.

As the three walked through an empty hallway, Blossom thought back to the day's previous events and suppressed a wince as a headache started blooming. "At this rate, I'm afraid Townsville High, let alone Townsville, won't survive."

* * *

After a rather lengthy talk/scolding from the Professor after dinner, Buttercup currently laid atop her bed with furrowed eyebrows as her thoughts seemed to be stuck on one particular recollection.

_"Dude, even though you've got great taste, you really do have fucking shit for brains."_

Buttercup frowned.

_"Dude, even though you've got great taste, you really do have fucking shit for brains."_

_"Dude, even though you've got great taste-" _

_"-you've got great taste-"_

_"-great taste-"_

"Ugh," She frantically shook her head in a vain attempt of erasing the memory from her head, buried her face in a pillow and groaned. "What the hell's wrong with me…?!"

"It means nothing," Buttercup scowled to herself, willing her cheeks not to heat up even further. "He was just riling me up, the idiot wasn't even thinking straight…"

"He's a psycho after all…" She closed her eyes, forced herself to empty her head and drift off into sleep. The small clock atop her bedside table provided a soft lullaby of steady ticking.

_Tick…_

_Tick…_

_Tick…_

_Tick…_

* * *

_"Things often seem more difficult in our minds than they actually are. Luckily we could always change our mind."_

_\- Rachel Wolchin_

* * *

_**Author End Notes**_

_**Sparks (of both anger and attraction) start flying between counterparts…**_

_**Buttercup has a really dirty mouth. I can't really blame her for releasing all that pent-up stress and anger at poor Mitch, not that the brunet didn't contribute to it. I also can't really blame Blossom for doing the same thing to Buttercup, ironically, only minus the swearing and more of a rant at that.**_

_**Remember, unless stated otherwise, Boomer always has his eyes closed. Whenever he's mentioned to be looking/staring/glancing, he's doing so with closed eyes and is actually just moving his face and head. The reason why he always keeps his eyes closed will be revealed in future chapters.**_

_**I give up on their characterizations, I'm barely holding myself back from rushing the story. I can't wait until they're all friends. Or at least nicely civil towards each other…**_

_**Yes, I like to describe what they wear. It adds to the story word count.**_


End file.
